Testimonial letter from Sw Anand Omkar
This letter is one of a remarkable series of over 2650 letters amassed in 1983 to support Osho's attempt to get permanent resident status in the US at the time of the Oregon ranch. The image is reproduced here with the kind permission of The Oregon Historical Society. Information about their collection of these letters and other supporting material -- the "Jeffrey Noles Rajneesh Collection", named for Osho's immigration lawyer Jeffrey Noles, who compiled them in 1983 and donated them to the OHS -- can be found at this page. The wiki is grateful to the OHS for making access available for these documents. For more information and links to all the letters, see Testimonial letters.
This letter is from Sw Anand Omkar (Omkar Main-Maupin). It is "Exhibit A-836" in the Noles collection.
The text version below has been created by optical character recognition (OCR), from the images supplied by OHS. It has not been checked for errors but this process usually results in over 99% correct transcription. Most apparent "errors" are correct transcriptions of typos already in the original. The image on the right in the text box links to a pdf file of the original letter, it has one page.
 Swami Anand Omkar To whom it may concern. After taking and passing the General Certificate of Education examinations in London at the Whitgift Public School I embarked on a very successful business career, starting in insurance and becoming a partner in my father’s insurance and brokerage and travel agency business. After some years it became clear to me that I needed something other than expensive cars, money and comfortable living; I started to travel the world in search of I knew not what. I finally met Bhagwan in Poona in 1974 and after hearing him speak and experiencing his presence, I knew that here was an exceptional man whose words could bring clarity and inspiration to any person that chose to listen, his books and discourse tapes are the present proof of that. I remember in Poona being set the task of making flutes, having absolutely no experience in this kind of work; I was overwhelmed, a friend suggested meditation to find that inner silence, and a few days later Bhagwan spoke about that silence from which all creativity springs, and that was it, the way was open and I was making the most exquisite little ebony and rosewood flutes in the shapes of birds and animals. This kind of experience was very common in Poona, as it is in Rajneeshpuram. Bhagwan’s presence supplies inspiration and clarity to thousands in all fields, and on all levels, nothing happens here that doesn’t spring from the inexhaustible well of Bhagwan’s peace and silence. I am now involved in the surveying of roads and the land, and recently we had the task of setting out the path of the new asphalt pavement on our existing roads, it was necessary to have 5 miles of road laid out within a few hours, an impossible task but somehow we did it; this is the usual way here, the impossible becomes achievable and it all happens by the grace of Bhagwan and the light he stimulates in all of us. His presence amongst us is a gift of inestimable proportion, His drive past us every afternoon serves as a reminder and allows us to be in touch with that inner silence of which he is the living embodiment. His stay here in the U.S.A. is a gift to any and all who wish to partake of the wealth he offers, it surely must be an honour for this country to have the opportunity to provide this remarkable man with a residency here. Yours faithfully |
(Please note: We assume that the above letter is still copyrighted, but we regard its historical interest to constitute a Fair Use exception for publication in this wiki.)
